KD Mahawangsa completes resupply mission for MALBATT in Lebanon

IPOH: The Royal Malaysian Navy's (RMN) vessel KD Mahawangsa has completed the Malaysian Battalion (MALBATT) 850 resupply mission to Lebanon.

The Western Fleet Command Headquarters' Strategic Communication Division said in a statement the first mission was completed when the ship arrived in Beirut, Lebanon on Jan 2 after spending 34 days at sea.

KD Mahawangsa completed its second mission when it participated in the International Fleet Review in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh which brought together navies from 28 countries from Dec 6 to Dec 9 last year.

"The first-ever task carried out by RMN's logistics vessel is in line with the third core of the Navy Commander, which is to improve integration and support for the aspect of togetherness or jointness.

"In addition to the MALBATT-850 resupply mission, the vessel also carried out a mission aimed at enhancing national defence diplomacy throughout the voyage," read the statement.

KD Mahawangsa also had the opportunity to strengthen defence diplomacy with the Indian Navy during its return journey through an operational visit in Kochin from Jan 28 to 31 and conducted a passing exercise (PASSEX) with the Indian Navy's INS Savitri on Feb 5, it added.

"This MALBATT-850 resupply mission was of medium scale and was carried out based on the capacity and capabilities of KD Mahawangsa.

"It had been successfully implemented which proved RMN's commitment, but we cannot rely on existing assets to carry out large-scale resupply missions," it said, adding that RMN's logistics capability could be enhanced with the Multi-Role Support Ship that will allow large-scale missions to be executed faster.

-- BERNAMA